Smoke on the Horizon
by Quotemaster2000
Summary: After the events on the island, the boys are headed back to civilization aboard the Navy ship, and Ralph and Jack reflect on their actions.


_This is a fictional 13_ _th_ _Chapter to William Golding's 12-Chapter_ Lord of the Flies. _I wrote this in 1998 during my sophomore year of high school as one of the final components of an extensive_ Lord of the Flies _project in my English class._

The island slowly disappeared over the fine line of the horizon, but the smoke from the burning forest was still visible as a signal for rescue. There was no one left to rescue.

Ralph watched the smoke rise over the horizon. He stood on the cruiser's fantail, thinking of the times on the island. They had all been a group at first. He and Jack and Roger and Maurice and Piggy and Simon...

Piggy and Simon. Both gone. Both killed. Both left behind on the island. Ralph wondered when it had all fallen apart; when they stopped being one group and became divided. He couldn't remember when it had started. Maybe it had always been that way. Maybe they had never been one group.

They were one group now. A group of civilized, British boys, clean from having bathed and with clean clothes and short hair. It seemed strange to be civilized again. That world had seemed millions of miles away, and then, all of a sudden, there it was.

Ralph looked around the deck of the cruiser. Some littluns were running about or playing. The littlun who had finally remembered his name as Percival was being coaxed by an officer for the rest of his name. Other officers were talking to other littluns, probably searching for similar information.

Most of the choir members sat together, talking. They were no longer a choir, or hunters, or a tribe. They were just a group of boys, dressed casually and talking as friends might.

Roger was not with them. He had been reprimanded for trying to throw Sam overboard. Eric was able to tell an officer straight away, however, and Roger was stopped before he could manage to get Sam over the railing. Roger was now locked up somewhere inside the ship. Samneric claimed that Roger blamed them for letting Ralph get the boys rescued.

Jack was not on deck, either. He hadn't been on deck since they had been rescued. Ralph thought Jack might resent him for telling the officer that he was in charge, even though all the other boys had joined the tribe. Of course, Jack hadn't argued about who was chief. Maybe it wasn't important if they were being rescued.

Ralph once again watched the fading smoke on the horizon. He could hear the littluns laughing and playing and the choir boys chatting. Suddenly, all the boys fell silent. Ralph looked around and noticed that a familiar-looking, red-haired boy standing on deck. At first, Ralph didn't recognize the boy, but he quickly realized that it was Jack. With clean clothes and without war paint, Jack certainly didn't look like the same person who had been the chief of a hunting tribe back on the island.

Ralph turned back toward the horizon. He really had nothing to say to Jack. After all, Jack had made the civilization on the island fall apart. Any attempt at a conversation would almost definitely turn into an argument that Ralph did not want to have.

To Ralph's surprise, Jack came up to the railing and stood next to him. They stood there silently for several minutes, watching the horizon and wondering what the other was thinking. Finally, Jack decided to break the silence.

"You were right, you know."

Ralph was surprised to hear such an admission from Jack. He wasn't sure how to respond. He wondered what response Piggy would suggest. Piggy wasn't there to suggest one, though, and Ralph was left to say the only thing he could think of.

"About what?"

"About everything. About hunting, and the fire, and the conch. You knew what needed to be done, and I wouldn't let you... wouldn't let you do it. I'm sorry."

For a moment, Ralph was speechless. He had never heard Jack say something so eloquent. In fact, Ralph realized that Jack had only apologized to him once before, on the mountain, after the fire had gone out. At that moment, Ralph remembered that he had never accepted that apology. He felt ashamed and thought that he should do something about his mistake.

"That's all right," he said. "I made a lot of mistakes too. Maybe if I had been a better chief, things wouldn't have gotten so out of control."

"You did get us rescued, so I suppose you weren't that bad of a chief. You know, it all seems so silly now. The tribe and the hunting and the war paint; it all just seems so bloody silly. I should have listened to you and Piggy."

They stood for a moment in silent memory of Piggy. They both knew that if they had just listened to him, things could have been better.

"It was a shame about Piggy, wasn't it?"

"Yes, it was."

"Why did you..."

"I didn't. That was Roger. He's the one who dropped the rock on Piggy. I'd never thought of actually dropping the rock on someone. It was only meant as a threat. But Roger, he was crazy. He was hoping you would come so he could drop the rock on you. It was his idea to hunt you down. I only went along with it."

Ralph wondered what to think about what Jack said. Now that he thought about their situation, Jack's story began to make perfect sense. Ralph turned to Jack for the first time since their conversation had started. Jack had taken the sheathed knife from his pocket and was turning it over in his hands, as if he was contemplating what to do with it. After a few seconds, he stopped and held the knife out to Ralph. Ralph looked at the knife, and then at Jack.

"Go ahead and take it. I want you to have it."

"Why?"

"I'm not sure. I just think that you should have it."

Ralph looked at Jack suspiciously, then reached out and slowly took the knife. At first, Ralph felt strange holding the knife, but he soon found that he felt powerful. It was a strange feeling. It was like when he had first blown the conch, but it was stronger. It was very peculiar.

At that moment, Ralph and Jack heard a door open. They turned to see the ship's captain and two other officers step out on deck. The captain tried to get the boys' attention.

"Excuse me, boys. May I have your attention, please? Yes, all of you, come here. Thank you."

The captain waited for the boys to gather around before he continued.

"I've just been in contact with my superiors in London. Frankly, no one knows what to do with you lads. We can't seem to locate any of your parents and we can't take you home as it is still too dangerous. Therefore, we are going to take you to the nearest British naval base. There they will take care of you until we know what to do with you."

This information came as a shock to most of the boys. They began to talk and chat among themselves about what would happen to them. Jack and Ralph, however, simply turned away and silently watched the last wisps of smoke disappear over the horizon.


End file.
